only one cure for the clueless

In a concise but all-too-insightful post, Reaching for Roses nails the situation on the ground here in Kentucky. The general public doesn’t get it, the mainstream press is too jaded or uninterested to cover it thoroughly, and the political hacks aren’t being paid enough to support it. And racing is burning while these toe-rags fiddle.

Furthermore, I am mortally insulted by the press and the pols. It’s their job to be on the ball and know what’s happening.

One of the bright spots in the mess, however, is that motivated people, such as Traversman at Reaching for Roses, are making their voices heard and are pushing the message. So long as we move the ball, even one foot at a time, we will be ahead of where we were yesterday.

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9 thoughts on “only one cure for the clueless”

So he “wised up” another Kentuckian. Did he urge the newly informed to take some action? If not, it was as good as talking to the wall.

What the story does illustrate is the job failure of the so-called leaders of the industry in this state. Why aren’t they speaking to and educating the public? Did someone say, “KEEP”? There is a comedian in every crowd and that got a good laugh.

I GOTTA SAY, the responsibility falls on the people in the industry. Go to churchill downs and look at the way this place is run. They cater strictly to the elite, or the lets say the suits with the passes that can gain access to the elevators. That is where the hamburger hits the grill. Horse racing is all about the handle. I remember when Denny Crum and all the big shots would mingle with the have nots, because there were no elevators to the sky boxes. That was one of the cool things about the downs. I took a school buddy that is now a lawyer to the keeneland sale, he was pondering getting into the biz. I took him around to all the barns with me as I looked at horses. I bought one. His comments heading back to the ville were, they seem to all feel like they are doing you a favor selling you a horse. I said what do you mean. He said, when we walked up to the people with the leg reports, and asked about the status of the horses they seemed offended. He said it was like how dare you question me about my horse, or it was like, who the hell are you. I call it the quilted coat syndrome. I feel like that no matter how high up a bird flies, he must come down sooner or later. And now there are a lot of birds with quilted coats, heading back to ground. Thats what this biz needs is to be grounded.

I really think some of the blame needs to land at the feet of Steve Beshear. I like Beshear personally but I question whether he has the leadership capabilities to push expanded gaming through. Trotting out a budget funded by expanded gaming and letting the House and Senate squabble over the details, is not leadership. He’s continued to roll the issue out every year but has yet to get his hands dirty and convince legislators personally; instead handing off to Greg Stumbo to do the dirty work. Legislators need see him out there pushing the issues on the floor, being a leader. Something that I hope might happen in his 2nd term (hopefully) where Governors usually have more weight behind them for legislation.

That’s where the (hopefully) came in. But at this point if I had to put a wager on it, I’d say yes. He’s an incumbent with an approval rating over 50% going against a legislator who has high negativity marks across the state. Over the past 40 years, we’ve had ONE Republican Governor, although it should be noted that the Democratic Party within the state is a pseudo conservative party. Call me crazy but I throw out Richie Farmer. It’s been proven people in the end generally don’t care whose running for Vice-President or Lieutenant Governor.

But let’s say David Williams is the next Governor? What do we do then?

Push the issue for the ballot? I’d be wary of this because of the money that would flow in from outside Casinos and Family Foundation type groups; it would be hard to match those advertising funds. They could easily sway the opinion of the state, quickly.

Take him up on the 10% surcharge of the Lottery? Although I’d be completely against taxing out of state wagers, I’d consider this as a last ditch option if coupled with Instant Racing.

Whatever the options. We need to start making contingency plans now in case he’s elected. We can’t be seen sitting on our hands and feeling sorry for ourselves if the wrong person gets elected.

I dont know if i am on the correct page..I noticed that FRANK was raving about GREY FLIGHT..
HE is 110% right..That was back in 1948 at BELMONT PARK..SHE was in just about every Saturday & i was there along with her..I couldnt wait until i got to the windows to bet GREY FLIGHT…She was so great (in my opinion) that she could pull the starting gate & beat the the girls of today..And iam sure that i am the only one around now that saw her in person in her races at BELMONT PARK in 1948..I was in love with her..

According to PedigreeQuery, Grey Flight had 14 foals, including 9 (count ’em, 9) stakes winners. Her first foal, Full Flight (1951) by Ambiorix, raced from 3 til 10 and started 216 times! Her last foal, Pleasant Flight, was a 1969 foal. Grey Flight was 24 when Pleasant Flight was born. Grey Flight’s son What a Pleasure (1965), by Bold Ruler, was the sire of many nice horses, including Derby winner Foolish Pleasure and Travers winner Honest Pleasure. I will always remember Honest Pleasure getting 18 pounds from Forego in the 1976 Marlboro Cup and getting nipped right on the money by the 3 time Horse of the Year. I was lucky to be at Belmont that afternoon with a seat right on the finish line. I really had wanted to see Forego win this race, but I didn’t think he could beat Honest Pleasure with the off track and giving all of that weight. I was on my way to the windows to bet Honest Pleasure, and I was talked into playing Forego by a pretty blonde. At the 1/16th pole, I was telling her thanks for talking me out of the winner. And when the numbers went up, I was forced to eat humble pie. The pretty blonde is still around and so are the memories of Forego.